Straightening Out the Problems
by SuicidalImbecile
Summary: Cloud's hair becomes a problem for a customer, so what does he do? Let's just say he should have left it alone. One shot, CloudxTifa. Read and review, please!


This is my first FFVII fan fic, so please don't give me feedback that's too harsh. The idea came to me last night when I remembered I still had to straighten my hair before I went to bed. I started writing and ended up forgetting to iron my hair, but at least I got a story finished!

Disclaimer: I don't own any Final Fantasy content. All belong to Square Enix and all 'em.

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Tifa gasped as she sat up in her bed, eyes wide, reacting quickly to the noises outside her bedroom. There was a crash, alarming Tifa at first, until she heard a muffled curse, followed by a softer crash.

Tifa sighed. "Cloud…" she muttered as she got up from bed, combing her fingers through her long dark hair and threw an oversized sweatshirt over her undergarments.

She walked quietly down the hallway, stopping outside Denzel and Marlene's bedroom, checking to see if they had woken up, which neither of them had.

Tifa stood outside the open door, as Cloud was ruffling his hand through his spiky blonde hair. As she noticed his apparel, she knew he couldn't have _just_ come home, for he was already in his boxers and an undershirt.

It wasn't until she asked Cloud what he was doing that she noticed several red burn marks on his hands.

Cloud looked up quickly, his blue eyes meeting hers, mouth dropped open, and unsure of what to say.

Tifa stepped further into the room, examining the items that fell on the ground and in the sink.

Tifa suppressed a laugh as she asked, "Are you straightening your hair?"

"Er, uh… you see…" Cloud began, then giving up due to loss of words.

"Your hair is already straight though," Tifa pointed out.

She looked at Cloud's hair and couldn't help giggling. One spike in the front had become limp, somewhat staticky, and covered in hair gel.

"But I thought it made your hair thin and- and normal," said Cloud.

Tifa smiled and shook her head. She took Cloud's hand and surveyed the burns. She raised her eyebrows as he explained, "I didn't know the thing got that hot!"

She smiled hopelessly and picked up the bottles on the floor.

"Maximum hold spray… kid's detangling spray… strawberry scented conditioner," she read off the labels. "Way to go, Cloud."

He blushed and slid a hand through his hair, apparently getting the hair gel on it, for he wrinkled his nose as he looked at it, then wiped it on his shirt.

"Why would you put hair gel in if you want to straighten it?" Tifa wondered aloud.

"I thought it was that spray stuff _you_ use," responded Cloud.

"Heat protection spray?" Tifa asked.

"Sure…"

"Anyways, what are you doing 'straightening' your hair at one in the morning?"

"I got home from deliveries and as I was going to bed, I remembered a comment I got from a customer about my hair. So you know… just figured I'd try to change it," said Cloud, leaning against the sink, now realizing how self-conscious he was being.

"Cloud, that's stupid to let such a comment lead to this," said Tifa, gesturing towards the mess in the bathroom.

"Yeah, you're probably right Tifa," Cloud admitted.

As me moved to scratch his head and reposition himself against the sink, his hand slipped in a pile of spilt hair gel on the rim of the sink, his crossed legs were unable to balance him and his right hand slid into the bowl of the sink, knocking the hot straightener from the ledge and once again burning his hand.

"Ow! Damn it!" Cloud yelled, before Tifa shushed him.

"You'll wake up Marlene and Denzel! Now shut up!" Tifa hissed. "Run your hand under cold water and then we'll wash this stuff out of your hair and I can go back to bed."

Cloud stopped waving his hand in the air and turned on the sink.

After Cloud had finished rinsing his hand, Tifa kept the water on and helped him wash the hair gel out.

"There. All done," said Tifa, clapping her hands together.

Cloud looked into the mirror and frowned.

"What's wrong?" Tifa asked.

"Teef, can you…?" Cloud started.

Tifa knew what he meant. She sighed heavily. "Fine," she said, plugging the iron back into the outlet.

Cloud smiled gratefully and sat on the toilet cover as Tifa took the first clump of hair and began to put it through the iron.

Cloud's eyes widened as he felt the burning steam blow into his face.

"Actually, you know what Tifa? I think I'm good. I mean, who cares how my hair looks? I'm just going to…" Cloud rambled, getting up as Tifa was still styling his hair.

"Wait, no, Cloud!" she yelled.

He continued to rise and Tifa moved the iron away; apparently the _wrong_ way, because Cloud's eye collided with the plastic on the straightener.

The surprise of what just happened caused him to yelp, leading Tifa to drop the scalding iron, which hit Cloud's knee and landed on his foot.

Cloud's hand was pressed against his eye, while he hopped on his good foot, yelling "what the hell are you trying to do, Tifa? Kill me?!"

Just then, a half asleep Denzel wandered into the room. He yawned and opened his droopy eyes, his first sight being Cloud.

Denzel screamed at the large, red, freaky haired man and bolted back into his room, slamming the door shut.

"Ugh. Cloud, just go to bed," said Tifa turning the iron off. She was exasperated and wondered how Marlene could have slept through all the commotion.

Cloud followed her orders, wondering the same thing, as Tifa turned the bathroom lights off and returned to her own room as well.

At eight o'clock, later that morning, Tifa went downstairs to prepare the bar for its opening.

Shortly after, Marlene and Denzel moseyed down, taking their seats at the bar and waited for the pancakes Tifa had begun to cook for them.

"Marlene, I'm telling you, last night I got up to use the bathroom, and there was a really scary guy in there, yelling!" Denzel exclaimed.

"You were probably dreaming, Denzel," said Marlene. "It wouldn't be the first time…"

"No, this is for real!" he argued.

Tifa heard their discussion and kept herself from laughing.

She couldn't help herself when Cloud limped into the room, looking worse than before.

Marlene giggled but then stopped when Cloud glared at her.

"Cloud?! You were the crazy guy in the bathroom last night?" Denzel blurted out.

Cloud blushed and muttered "sorry", then took a stool to sit next to Denzel.

He reached behind the bar to get a plate. Using it as a mirror, he saw a brown colored bruise surrounding his eye and a dark red burn underneath his cheek bone. To make his appearance worse, his hair had split to either side and still stuck up.

"Damn hair straightener," Cloud muttered, low enough for only him to hear.

Tifa came around from the kitchen, a big plate of pancakes in her hand. When she saw Cloud up close. She burst out laughing and almost dropped the plate.

"Have fun with deliveries looking like _that_!" Tifa laughed, joined in by the two children.

"I'm a man Tifa, not a woman! I don't know how to use those things!" Cloud snapped.

"Oh sure," Tifa laughed, "You can fight monsters fearlessly but you're afraid of a hair straightener. Real manly!"

Cloud got up, taking an ice pack from the freezer in the kitchen. He came back to grab two pancakes, shoving one in his mouth as he limped back upstairs.

"I'm taking the day off!" he hollered. "No way am I going out looking like this!"

-fin-

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Reviews are nice


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